Mayor vetoes proposed settlement, City Council will vote to override at Dec. 18 meeting

Drawing of the original waterfront redevelopment project. Papke's hotel was the L-shaped dark building. The city has created an ad-hoc committee to develop a new plan for the waterfront, which includes ideas and feedback from the community.(Photo: Courtesy of Sturgeon Bay Community Development office)

STURGEON BAY - Mayor Thad Birmingham has vetoed the City Council's approval of a settlement with hotel developer Robert Papke.

According to City Administrator Josh VanLieshout, the council will reconsider the settlement at their next meeting Dec. 18.

Two-thirds of the City Council — 5 of 7 members — must vote to override Birmingham's veto for the settlement to move forward, VanLieshout said.

The original settlement vote passed 5-2 with Aldermen David Ward and Seth Wiederanders voting against it.

Papke was asked by the city in 2014 to develop a hotel along the city's west side waterfront on land slated for redevelopment. The redevelopment project and Papke's hotel plan ground to a halt when the Friends of the Sturgeon Bay Public Waterfront sued the city.

The Friends lawsuit claimed the land was protected by the state's Public Trust Doctrine and the city couldn't sell it for private development. In February 2017, the judge in the case ruled the ordinary high-water mark needed to be established before the land could be sold for development.

This was followed by Papke suing the city. Papke claimed that city officials mislead him about the west side redevelopment project and he was owed more than $500,000.